Camdeboo National Park
Text and pictures: Romi Boom. Article from the Winter 2012 issue of Wild Magazine.
Camp in the Cathedral of the Mountains
Visitors can now overnight in Camdeboo National Park, at a new campsite and tented camp on the shore of Nqweba Dam.
The sound of splashing interrupts the dusk silence. A buffalo, perhaps a kudu bull, come down to the water to drink. I am in a dense sweet thorn thicket and, because it will be full moon in two nights’ time, the long white thorns shimmer in the moonlight. Even more memorable is that I’m overnighting in Camdeboo for the very first time. The park now has a shaded campsite and tented camp on the dam shore.
My favourite is tent number two, which has a view over the dam, somewhat obscured by reeds. Peter Burdett, park manager since 1990, explains that rising and falling dam levels cause the floodplain to encroach on the shore, to the extent that papyrus reeds reach up to the Khwalimanzi Hide from time to time. Once the soil dries out, a tractor is sent in to cut the reeds, which pose a fire hazard. With the view now hidden, it is astonishing to imagine that the hide, which was initially constructed for game-viewing purposes, overlooked as many as 100 eland at a time.
Peter says his favourite part of the park is the vleiland around the campsite, because it is so rich in birdlife. “But the best place to sit and read the papers on a Sunday morning is at the toposcope overlooking the Valley of Desolation,” he confides. “Just below the clifftop, on the left hand side, is a Verreaux’s eagle nest.”
Ngweba campsite has 15 caravan and tent sites set on gravel, each with a power point and braai unit, plus use of a communal kitchen. Lakeview tented camp has four safari tents, which have two single beds, camp chairs, table, braai unit and fridge. Each tent has its own locker in the well-equipped communal kitchen, as well as a cast-iron pot if you fancy making potjiekos.
Although there is good game-viewing on the gravel road to Winterhoek especially, I found both 4×4 trails in the park absolutely worthwhile. The Koedoeskloof 4×4 Trail, situated in the western side, turns into a stony track with some steep inclines, but rewards with awe-inspiring vistas over the Sneeuberge and the great Karoo plains.
The Driekoppe 2×4 or 4×4 route, in the eastern section of the park, is accessed from the Kroonvale gate, for which you get a key from reception. It passes the lush green basin of Kwaggakom to the turnaround point at Driekoppe, where there are facilities for a picnic or braai. The Driekoppe overnight hiking trail enables you to explore the park on foot. There are three route options of 5 km, 11km and 14 km.
The park has ample game and the veld was in an excellent condition after nine consecutive days of rain, most unusual for the Karoo.
Although I did not see buffalo, I ticked off almost everything else on the park’s list, including mountain reedbuck, leopard tortoise (right) and Cape mountain zebra. At the Valley of Desolation, I spotted a pair of Verreaux’s eagles riding the thermals overhead.
Camping R175 a night for two people. R58 for an additional adult and R29 a child, up to six. Lakeview tent R500 a night, sleeps two.
Central Reservations 012-428-911, website
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